Pictures
It's a snapper showdown
A battle is looming at the top end of the digital camera market after two heavyweights, Canon and Nikon, unveiled 5 megapixel models aimed at enthusiasts and semi-professional snappers.
Canon is to introduce the PowerShot G, the successor to its popular G2 and G3. The model features Canon's Digital Imaging Core processor; other features include 4x optical and 4x digital zooms, 12 automatic shooting modes, a 180-second video clip facility and macro options. Images are stored on either a CompactFlash card or a 1GB Microdrive. The G5 will go on sale next month priced at £680.
Nikon's latest is the Coolpix 5400. An SLR-styled digital, it features 4x optical and 4x digital zooms, and handles up to 70 seconds of video. Nikon claims its macro facilities - down to 1cm - will make it the closest focusing consumer digital camera available.The 5400 will also go on sale in July, and will cost around £650.
www.canon.co.uk
Sounds
iPod goes wireless
Not sure if Apple entirely approves, but owners of the company's iPod personal hard disk MP3 player will soon be able to control their player remotely. German company Ulshofer has patented an infrared remote control receiver, which slips into the iPod's remote connector.
Ulshofer claims the receiver, which can start and stop tracks, increase or decrease the volume and cue the next or previous track, is compatible with most universal remote controls currently on sale. The company expects the module to be on sale in early August retailing for around €70.
www.ulshofer.de/ipod-remote-eng.html
3G
Three for all
Third generation (3G) mobile phone network 3 is claiming its services, like its video-calling facility, are now available to 60% of the UK population. After an initial launch in the southern half of England, 3 has extended its network to take in areas in the north of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. In all, 3 is now available in fifty cities across the UK.
When users roam outside 3's network several of its handsets' core features such as video-calling, web browsing and email, won't function. They can, however, still make voice calls and send text messages.
www.three.co.uk
Europe
European privacy
The European parliament's citizens' rights committee is under fire for nominating Spanish magistrate Joaquín Bayo Delgado as the parliament's data protection supervisor. "To the best of our knowledge he has never written about the subject, nor spoken about it in any public presentation," said Simon Davies, watchdog Privacy International's director, who has complained to all MEPs.
Jorge Hernandez Mollar, the committee's chairman, replied to Davies that it was "astonishing that you attack a person who you admit you do not know". The committee will discuss the appointment again next week.
www.privacyinternational.org
E-commerce
Euro consumers
One in three cross-border orders made online within the EU fail to arrive, according to research by the European consumer centre. Researchers made 114 international orders from e-commerce sites in all 15 EU countries, for common items such as ink cartridges and CDs. They found that 39 (34%) did not arrive - even though charges were made for nine of these missing items.
Researchers then returned 57 items, and found that 18 (32%) did not result in a refund, with only 28 (49%) refunding both the price and the outward delivery fee - as e-commerce sites are legally required to do.
It took an average of 11 days for items to arrive, although a T-shirt ordered in Luxembourg from Austria took 67 days.
www.ecic.ie/news/whats_new
PDAs
Sony shrinks PDA
Sony has given a sneak preview of its next generation Clié - the company's Palm OS-based PDA. Paraded at a recent management meeting in Japan, the new Clié is significantly smaller than the company's previous PDAs, sports a clamshell-like design, and features an integrated digital camera.
The shape and form factor of the device is said to resemble that of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP. The new PDA also includes wireless facilities, though Sony is tight-lipped as to whether this means 802.11b (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth.
www.sony.co.uk
Palm adds voice
Owners of Palm's newly launched Wi-Fi-enabled Tungsten C will soon be able to use their PDA to make internet-based voice calls. VLI has announced the release of its Gphone for the device, which enables users to make and receive calls over IP provided they are within range of a wireless network. Users within the same company will be able to call each other without any telephone costs at all.
To make voice calls, Tungsten C owners will need to invest in the Palm handsfree headset. The Gphone system is expected to be ready later this month.
Gaming
Sony PSX
Sony has unveiled the PSX, a souped-up version of the Play Station 2 that doubles as an entertainment system. In addition to the games console, which is the same as existing PS2s, the PSX features a 120GB hard drive and Ethernet support. This enables users to integrate the PSX into their network and use it to store games, video and music files.
The new hardware will also feature media components including a DVD recorder and possibly a TV tuner. The PSX will debut in Japan at the end of the year with a European and US launch scheduled for 2004.
www.sony.co.uk
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi for Lancia
Italian car-maker Fiat is adding wireless gateways to its top-of-the-range Lancia Phedras, with the first Wi-Fi-enabled cars available in Spain from September. These will link to 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots that should be installed by the end of the summer.
"We think that drivers will stop at petrol stations and make their connection," says Nestor Carralero, marketing director of 3Com Iberia, which manufactures the gateways. Fiat and 3Com will decide next week whether to extend distribution to other countries.
